Providers of digital media content (for example, video, audio, images, graphics, documents, spreadsheets, and multimedia content) use metadata to describe available digital media content to potential recipients. Metadata is any descriptive or identifying information in computer-processable form that is associated with an item of digital media content.
Commercial digital media providers often supply metadata to consumers using proprietary formats or protocols. In some cases, consumers need special-purpose electronic devices for receiving the metadata. For example, broadcast or downloadable digital media content may be described in catalogs or program guides published by particular media service providers via various communication networks such as cable networks, satellite communication networks, radio frequency networks, and the Internet.
Non-commercial digital media content (for example, personal media content such as photos, music, videos, playlists, and the like) is frequently serendipitously described by creators, using formats or protocols as varied as the manners in which the media content may be created or published.
It is desirable to collect and manage metadata that describes digital media content available from a variety of sources, and to represent such metadata in a manner that allows people using a wide variety of general-purpose electronic devices to discover and access relevant metadata and associated digital media content, while at the same time preserving the monetary opportunities available to commercial digital media providers.